-Redeems Points- [Midori]

[Midori Hawkins]

So far, it seemed that Darryl was in no danger of souring the day. It was different to spending the day with Eli. Granted, she’d been friends with him for years. Being with Darryl, even in a friendly way, was new territory for her. She hadn’t heard much about him, good or bad, but she knew he was good friends with that nice history teacher. So he couldn’t be all that bad, right? The minor flirting comments aside, so far he’d been nothing but friendly. And this flower business didn’t seem to be something he shared with a lot of people. It was interesting, having that kind of insight into someone like Darryl. She just... didn’t know what it meant.

“For their sakes, I hope so too. Or else we’re all going to be in trouble when they start running the country. ... Or taking handouts from it. Depending on if they smarten up or not.” Then she had a thought, one that made her wince. “God, think about the things they’ll teach their kids if they don’t wise up. That’s scary.” Of course, it was hard to have an opinion like that when you didn’t know how hard it was to raise a kid. But after that, Mii resolved that if she ever had the opportunity, she would make the effort to teach her own well. “Wow. You should call him on it. Get security to raid his room, or something. Drugs have no place on campus.” Granted, she knew a lot of underage drinking and smoking went on around Hammel. Not to say that it wasn’t that way when she’d attended. She just hadn’t tried it. She’d had no desire to fall in with that type of crowd. She’d had her friends, and she hadn’t needed to show off and drink to keep them around.

Considering the only men Mii had had a habit of hanging around with recently were her brothers, and Eli, well... only one out of three thought like Darryl did. Mii had watched Zach get slapped in clubs countless times. It seemed like everything that came out of a woman’s mouth translated to one thing in his mind. Thankfully, as Corbin and Eli proved, not all men were like that. And so far, Mii was holding out that Darryl wasn’t, either.

“Thank you,” she replied softly, twisting her hair around her fingers. Now they didn’t have work to concentrate on, she was marginally fidgety. Maybe a drink would relax her. Just a bit. Enough that she could stop being so self conscious, at least. She watched Darryl work, feeling marginally guilty that she wasn’t doing anything to help. But then he handed her her drink, and she had to smile. “So, um...” She took a sip. It was surprisingly good. “Can we find something better to talk about than delinquent students?” Fun as that topic was, she could think of better ones.

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl would be pretty glad to know he wasn't about to ruin all their progress, but it'd probably be best not to tell him that and get him get cocky (or anymore cocky than he already is). Midori's company was nice. He hadn't shared his like of flowers with...anyone, and it was nice to see it had been accepted nicely from her, though she seemed one of the most tolerant people out there. He'd have to thank the idiot brother, if he ever met him, for it because without his influence she'd probably not like Darryl. It would be great if he didn't mess it up, though. While he was sure she wasn't the spiteful type, she could really hurt him. He'd shown her a side he's never shown anyone, even Morgan--especially Morgan.

"I doubt they'll smarten up, 'least the one I have in mind." Take that Mr. Rixon, and your damn pirate voice. "We can't lose hope though, I mean, there are just as many good students, if not more. They just tend to not stick out like the bad ones." Darryl reasoned, because he did have to give the nicer and spunkier kids in his class credit. If it wasn't for the one speed bump, it'd be a rather enjoyable class. But every rose has it's thorn and whatnot. He looked up at her suggestion to call him out on it. What would that do? Get him expelled? The pyro certainly can't leave the school until his powers are under control, and he is almost as powerless against his powers as a freshmen. No, the only thing that would do would be to drive a stake further in between the two and Darryl would never get through to him. Even though it was wrong, and illegal (very illegal), it wouldn't do any good to stir it up, and Darryl had a feeling he'd been caught with it before and didn't learn from it the first time, anyway. "I'd imagine it not do any good, it's not like the administration can kick him out of the school; he has to be here because of his powers." And the kid probably knew just that too, which was probably why he did it in the first place; he could get away with it.

It would probably be a bad thing if Zach and Darryl met, on second thought. If they were so much alike, then things would get pretty disastrous. If their minds really did interpret things so closely together like that, they'd probably get worse than slaps and the drink toss, in the club scene anyway. They'd probably cut up a room in proper company, but that was a pretty good gamble. No, it was best the two never meet. Darryl would ask for stories of Midori and Zach probably wouldn't hold back at all.

"You are welcome." He smiled as she thanked him and as she took a small sip, he took one of his own. Mmm. Rum. He was glad to see she liked it, or at least she did a good job of hiding any distaste for it. Vodka...was something Darryl had to mix or drink with a chaser, but rum...was his drink. It was delicious. "Oh fine." He seemed put off by her wanting to change the topic, but the smile gave it away that he was just kidding. He was reeling for something to talk about, but he wasn't very good at deciding a topic on demand like that. He naturally went with the flow of conversation. "Ooh, how about we play a game?" He asked, the corner of his mouth turned up a little, "A get-to-know sort. You ask me a question, I ask you a question, and see where that leads?" He asked as he took another little happy drink.

[Midori Hawkins]

Cockiness was probably not a good thing in this situation. It took a while to coax Midori from her shy little shell, and once she was out, it was easy to send her scurrying back in. She was still completely convinced that this was not a date. After all, who planted flowers as a date? She didn’t think Darryl had that kind of interest in her, anyway. As for his personality, well, yes. It was a lot like Zach’s, and perhaps that was one thing she found she liked about him.

“Oh. Well, in that case… I’m sorry he’s in your class.” At least for every bad student, she had to hope he had a few good ones. “That’s true. I mean, I was a good student, but I also worked hard at not standing out. Unfortunately, it’s usually the bad ones that leave lasting impressions.” That was obviously the case with this particular student and Darryl. “Nothing worth doing is easy, you know. I’m sure it’ll work out.” As far as calling him out on his little problem was concerned, well… apparently Darryl had already thought of that. “I guess so. He’s a wild one with his powers, then?” She knew of a few students that had been at the school for a while, without gaining much control over their powers. And one was a dangerous pyrokinetic. (One that she knew Eli had already banned from the library, as he’d burned one of the books.) “Well, for the sake of your sanity, I hope he comes around eventually.”

No. Mii didn’t particularly want Zach to meet any of her friends from Hammel. Eli in particular, as she knew him, and she knew he’d say things just to make the shy man squirm. With Darryl, they’d probably join forces in a club and cause all kinds of awful trouble, and wake up with raging hangovers. … In other words, according to Zach, just another night on the town. (And she didn’t trust him not to tell – or invent – horrible stories about her from their childhoods.)

The drink really wasn’t bad. Not too strong, which was nice. Just the smallest bite of alcohol. (How he could drink rum straight, she wasn’t too sure.) And this was much better than the pre-mixed hard lemonade she’d had before. She smiled and leaned back against the counter, taking another drink. She was well aware that she was a light weight when it came to drinking. Just one or two would make her a little giggly. Three or four would get her tipsy. Anything more, and she’d wake up in the morning to regret it. His little put off act might have made her regret her request, but his smile told her otherwise. Cheeky bugger. His suggestion, however, made her blank. “Aren’t we a little old to be playing getting to you know you games?” Was she stalling? Why yes, yes she was. Her little mind was trying to come up with something. And then, she managed to blurt out something that seemed… well… maybe not the best idea. “Who was your first celebrity crush?” Oh Mii. You just opened up a world of possibilities by asking something along those lines. I hope you’re prepared for the consequences. Because Darryl is a man, and he has my full permission to run with this wherever he deems necessary.

[Darryl Bond]

"I would say I was a good student, but I'm pretty sure that if you asked any teacher I had, they'd tell you different." Darryl chuckled at that, because he was pretty sure it was true. He hadn't had that many classes with Morgan, but that didn't mean Darryl necessarily behaved properly. Darryl was a class clown, because he loved the attention, and he often times copied the voice of the teacher and said silly things. He'd definitely had his share of detention because of it. But Darryl...sort of applied himself. He always did his work.....eventually.

Ah, well, he had matured in that aspect and knew life wasn't just some big joke where you can say and do whatever you want. So he reserved the right to call himself mature, and grown up. He owned his house, didn't he? He had had enough money when he moved to purchase it at once, and he knew he the money to go to a lot and completely buy himself a car as well, but he held himself back from that. He didn't want to get a car, yet.

Back to the irresponsible student, Darryl nodded, "Yes, he's accidentally set fire to several textbooks. I've taken to keeping a fire extinguisher on the top of my desk. It is such a nuisance." He knew his best interest should be with teaching him control, but if Mr. Rixon insisted on taking a drug that took away his control, then Darryl might as well hit his head against the wall.

Darryl wasn't sure exactly why he could drink rum straight, because he hadn't met anyone else that did. He just liked it that way, he had tried some of the mixed drinks with rum and he liked them...sorta, but he preferred it by itself, though he was sometimes in the mood for a rum and coke. As for the other alcohols...the liquors and beers--Darryl hated beer, every time he took a drink of it, he felt his stomach grow a little--and the liquors weren't something he preferred. Wine was something he liked as well, but the good stuff was too expensive to drink regularly.

"If we're too old for it, then I'm open to suggestions. It was the first thing that popped into my head." Darryl told her honestly, and he wondered if she'd take him up on that, just to get out of playing the game. Darryl was almost surprised when she went ahead and asked him a question. He grinned around the brim of his class and after he swallowed he thought about it. It was actually a pretty lengthy list, but he went with the first that came to him, "Julie Andrews." He chuckled at how odd that sounded, but truthfully The Sound of Music was one of his favorite movies. "But I was just as much of a fan of her as Farrah Fawcett." Because every boy in America had been in love with that woman.

And now for his question for her. He supposed he could cheat a little, and ask her the same question, but what did that say about Darryl? He wasn't creative? He tapped his chin as he mulled over the possible questions. "If you could be any superhero--or supervillian--who would you be?" He left out the 'and why' because that was a separate question, and the rules of the game were one a piece. Darryl was no cheater. He took another drink, as he pondered over which superhero he would be. He'd probably be Batman, because he was a superhero, and also a businessman with a separate life outside of his fighting crime. He wondered who she would pick.

[Midori Hawkins]

“I never would have guessed,” she teased slightly. Drama kids had a habit of being the clowns, didn’t they? And she knew that meta humans in particular could cause trouble with clowning around in class. She could only imagine Darryl at fifteen, sixteen, mimicking teachers and students alike. If they’d been in the same classes, yeah, she would have been hard pressed not to giggle along with the rest of the class. Yes, she had been a good student. But if something like that happened in class? She’d laugh.

Sadly, Darryl was a few years younger, and seemingly decades more mature than her idiot brother. Perhaps her parents, or even Corbin, had dropped him a few times. It would explain the lack of maturity and sense. It was sad when she was the baby of the family, yet she’d been to and finished college, and was now out in the world with a house and a good job, where she belonged.

“... Wow. What’s wrong with his powers? He should have better control by now.” Yeah, it was a nice theory. Too bad it only worked when the student applied himself during training, instead of goofing off. “The kid sounds like a hazard.” See? This was why she didn’t want to be a teacher. Kids like this one.

Drinking anything straight, Mii had found, was a bad idea. Granted, she’d watched some of her friends (and her idiot brother) knock back pure vodka shots. She’d never really found any kind of pleasure in that kind of behaviour. It was the kind that landed you into trouble. Yes, she’d gotten early morning calls from friends in deep regret for whatever antics they’d gotten up to the previous night. Beer was also in the ‘gross’ category. Vodka coolers were just fine with her. Or, in this case, spiked lemonade.

“No, it’s fine. It was just a comment.” Then again, they’d worked hard earlier. Maybe it was okay to be a little bit immature. Which was why she’d asked him. His answer actually surprised her, so much so she arched an eyebrow. “Julie Andrews? Really?” At least his secondary answer was a little more... expected. Her brothers had adored her as well. (She’d never seen the appeal, herself.)

She took another drink, already feeling a little more at ease with this whole thing. Even his question didn’t really bother her. “Superhero?” That, she had to think about. There weren’t many female superheros out there. Then she quirked a little smile. “I don’t really know. Maybe something like Rogue, from X-Men, or Mystique. But they’re not that much different from meta humans. I guess it’s more wishing for different powers, there.” Which could be considered cheating. But just a little. X-Men were still good guys, for the most part. Which therefore made them heroes. She thought about another question, before smiling. “I know. If you could trade your power for any other, which would you choose?” She wanted to be able to perform biological manipulation, herself. It would be so much more useless than shapeshifting.

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl grinned at her teasing and sighed slightly. He wasn't all that much of a class clown because he was a drama student. He was one before he was accidentally put in the class, it was just after he was in Drama, and he found out he was good at it, did he flower into a true class clown. It was a good thing and a bad thing all rolled into one, though. One of Darryl's favorite things to make the teachers say was 'I don't know what I'm saying.' Though, instead of just repeating the same things over and over again, Darryl tended to mock whatever subject the teacher was going over, and add false information into it. Because according to Darryl, the reason why World War II started was because of the disappearance of Elvis and the Model T car wasn't invented by Ford, but his Norwegian cousin, Fjord, but since America wasn't a fan of foreigners in those days so he changed it to his name; Ford.

Would you believe that some of the students actually believed him? (technically it was the teacher saying those things though, technically.)

Darryl still had a long way to go to really be able to call himself mature. Sure he had his own house and everything, and he was a teacher, but he had a hard time with a serious conversation, he wasn't a very reliable person when it came to relationships, and he would rather what was fun than responsible. Which was pretty hypocritical of him, wasn't it? Though Darryl kinda knew that, he wasn't one claiming he had all his ducks in a row either. Any progress he had made on that front sorta went out the door when he rediscovered his friend Morgan. Though the two of them hadn't really done anything stupid together, all the memories of the stupid things they had done had been coming back.

"He just doesn't care, is all. He doesn't have respect for anything. Himself included, I imagine." Darryl, who didn't know this kid personally or anything, had a pretty good idea of exactly why he didn't apply himself and why he didn't care. Of course that was just what he thought. And Darryl wasn't licensed to do that sort of thing. He was just supposed to teach the kids how to project their voice on stage, and how to stay in character.

Darryl chuckled at her justification for their little game and he could see that his honest answer surprised her. "Oh yes, she's a beautiful woman, and while being much old than the other superstars of my childhood, she had a beautiful singing voice, and while Farrah was definitely more famous, and more...well... I was more personally drawn to the older woman." Darryl was just a hair's breadth away from admitting to his favorite movie, but to avoid embarrassing himself he kept that little tidbit to himself. Instead he listened her her answer. "I'd say your about halfway there with Mystique, being a shape shifter." Honestly, though, Darryl didn't know much about the comic book X-men. Comics were Morgan's sort of thing, Darryl had just seen the movies when they came out.

At her question, however, his eyes furrowed in thought because it really something wasn't he thought about. Darryl loved his power, absolutely. He couldn't remember a single instance when he wished he had a different power. "I suppose being able to read minds would be interesting, though from what I've seen it's much more tiresome." Darryl shrugged at his decision and took another drink. The demon drink was starting to soak in and he could feel the tingly sensation working from his stomach. This was causing him to want to...well ask a little less innocent questions. "Who was your first kiss?" He asked as he lowered the glass away from his face.

[Midori Hawkins]

Mii had never, ever been the attention seeker in class. She’d been the good girl, the quiet one in the back. The one that concentrated on her work, handed in her homework, and didn’t interrupt. Yes, she had a tendency to smile, or snicker when the clowns in her own class had started goofing off. She wasn’t immune to their antics. She just didn’t perform them herself. Had she been in Darryl’s class, it was a toss up for how she might have responded. She might have rolled her eyes and gotten fed up with him, but considering he’d done it in History, she was more likely to have laughed along with the other students. History had never been her favorite subject, and to hear the alternate versions of things like World War II, well… yeah. She would have laughed.

She just wouldn’t have believed him.

If nothing else, Mii blamed most guys’ lack of maturity on the simple fact that they matured slower than women did. Eli and Corbin might have been the exceptions to that rule, but even they had their moments. Her job required a great deal of maturity, talking to the parents of potential new students. But she also had to come back down to the teenagers’ levels once she had them alone. She could be silly, yes, but when it came to her job at Hammel, and dealing with parents, and most of life in general, she was fairly mature, and responsible. The only time she tended to get a little less mature was around Eli, and especially around his dog. But most of that was to get her best friend to loosen up a bit.

“Nice,” she murmured. “Sounds like someone I know.” Now now, be nice to your brother, Midori. “I hope for your sake he smartens up sometime before the semester is over.” She couldn’t imagine dealing with a teenager like that on a day to day basis. Thank god she hadn’t been the one to bring him here.

Wow. If Darryl could be that honest with a silly question like that, he had just earned a few more points. He was right. Julie Andrews was beautiful. And had an incredible voice. “Oh, I know. I just didn’t expect something like that out of you. Farrah seems more you.” Considering Mii was younger than the drama teacher, she wasn’t sure exactly what to make of his ‘older woman’ comment. She took another drink and tried to hide a guilty smile behind her glass. “But Mystique was blue. And she could shift into anybody she wanted. I’m stuck with small, furry things.” Dogs, cats, rabbits, as long as it was under sixty pounds, she could do it. Not all that intimidating.

It seemed that her question had managed to lure Darryl into deep thought, the way he looked. His answer wasn’t surprising, at least. Or maybe she was just that much calmer. Read minds? “That would be interesting, I guess.” His next question startled her, but her reaction was much more subdued than normal. She giggled. “First grade. His name was Mitchell, and he kissed me on a dare.” Of course, he probably wanted a better answer than that. And she provided it. “My first real kiss was after I graduated Hammel and went back home, with a guy called Shane.” She shrugged and took another sip, her head already a little fuzzy. “We dated for a while.” Onto the next question. And if Darryl was going to be less innocent, well, two could play at that game. She struggled to think up something a little more risque, but all she could come up with was... well... “When did you lose your virginity?” It was followed by a dark blush. Loosening up? Just a tad. But this was supposed to be fun, and it had just turned flirty. Well… no harm in that, right?

[Darryl Bond]

If Darryl and Midori ever been in the same class, he probably would have went out of his way to make her laugh, because that was what he did. If a student was too busy with their nose in a book, or actually doing the assignment the teacher had given out, Darryl usually made it his own personal business to get that kid to crack a smile or to deter them from their train of thought and break their concentration. He found Sean Connery was the best person to go to for that. Not many people out there could keep a straight face with Darryl leaned next to them saying, 'Great Scott! (insert name here) is hard at work doing something important!' As the one and only Sean Connery. He couldn't remember a single instance where the person he targeted kept a straight face.

Just thinking back on it, he was cracking a grin. He had fancied himself a great comedian back in the day. Others would say different, but who cares about the third party's opinion? Darryl didn't, unless it was a good opinion. He nodded along with what she said about the boy and sighed a little somberly. "I hope so too. Lord knows that boy won't know what to do once he gets out of school." If he gets out.

Darryl would be glad to know he had more points, though I'd advise Mii keep that to herself. He didn't prefer Julie Andrews over Farrah Fawcett simply because she was older, but simply because out of the two, Darryl was more drawn towards her. Mainly because she wasn't only a movie star, but had been famous in Broadway as well. While at the time Darryl hadn't realized his love of the Arts, he had admired her success their and thought it about Farrah who just had a pretty face and a famous picture.

As to Midori's denial of being close to Mystique and giving her reason, Darryl chuckled. "Alright, you're about a third of the way there." He chuckled a little and as she answered his question he chuckled. He could imagine that Midori was one of those impossibly cute and adorable children, the ones that didn't play in the dirt and insist that mudpies were edible. As for Shane, Darryl grinned wryly, he wondered exactly why that one ended, but he didn't want to waste his question with a follow-up. He was admittedly surprised of her question, but he grinned all the same. He noticed the blush and that made his grin widen a little. He took a little drink before he answered. "It was my sophomore year at Hammel. We hadn't known each other long, and I hadn't even considered it, but at the time my reputation preceded me and the girl was under the impression I was...experienced. She was older than me by almost two years and was very surprised to learn she was my first time. If one were so inclined they could blame her for my..antics as she introduced me to that sort of lifestyle. Before her I was just the class clown, but then I transformed into the flirt I am today." Darryl flourished his hands like his dramatic self and gave a little chuckle at that. That was about as innocent of a description as he could give. Sure he didn't need to give all that extra information, but rum turned him into a talkative fellow.

As for his question? He was taking the low road and decided since she threw him that one, he decided to toss it back. Not to mention he was really curious about it. "And, Ms. Hawkins, when did you lose your virginity?" His smile was a little more devious than he would have liked, but he was becoming more inebriated and thus he lost his precise control. But it was just all in good fun.

[Midori Hawkins]

Really, with Darryl around, Mii wouldn’t have had a chance. She’d liked her classes, and school. Well, except for History, but that was only because she didn’t like learning about war, and she wasn’t all that good at remembering dates things happened. She might have been annoyed with him, especially if he’d singled her out to pester, but now she was thinking about it, she realized it was a bit pointless. They’d never been in the same classes. Of course, looking at him now, grinning like a fool, well... if he was amusing himself with the memories, that was okay with her.

“If Zach’s any indication, his parents might pay for college, and waste their money because he’s too busy partying and drinking and sleeping around to do any kind of work.” High opinion of kids that choose to waste resources like education? Not really.

Oh, the fact that Darryl would choose Julie Andrews because of her success and talent, well... more points, heading his way. Mii had honestly expected him to blurt out someone much like Farrah, who was pretty, sexy, and drooled over by guys all over the place. Though he’d said her name, it had been almost an afterthought. Maybe Darryl really was different.

A third of the way? Mii shook her head, amused. “Maybe a fifth of the way.” And no, she did not feel like demonstrating her abilities to Darryl right this second. The last thing she wanted to happen was to attempt a shift, only to get stuck as a dog. Or worse, have it go perfectly, and... end up shifting back in front of him. Sans clothes. Transformation, it was a fun beast. His guesses would have been correct, however. She definitely didn’t play much in the dirt, and the mere thought of mudpies had made her cringe. She’d liked playing inside, or in the backyard. Corbin had often taken pity on her and played with her. Zach hadn’t been as nice. He’d been the one to run around and roll in the dirt. (Sometimes, Mii and Corbin considered that he’d been adopted.)

She was somewhat embarrassed over what she’d asked him. It wasn’t really something she’d expected to ask. But it was the only thing she could think of on the fly. The fact that it had happened at Hammel made it all the... worse, maybe? Yes, definitely worse as he explained. She shifted and drank a little more, as if drinking would save her from the trouble she’d just started. “You’re not that much of a flirt.” Not that she’d seen, anyway.

And his retaliation? Mii felt her face flush hotter, and she avoided his gaze, again trying to hide behind her glass. “Um...” Why was this a good idea, again? “C-college,” she finally managed. “It was in college. With my boyfriend.” Now they’d hit this kind of territory, she didn’t know what to ask next. She was eager to try and get away from this mess, but she had the feeling that now they were here, there was no escaping. Still, she tried. “Uh... hey, why don’t you have a car?” It was the furthest thing she could think of from this kind of territory. And she was a little curious...

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl was actually amusing himself with memories of his past, and of his high school career. It was definitely the most memorable time of his life. The only thing he had to worry about was school, and working to control his power (but he got enough practice time in for that to not be a bother). The rest of the time he spent doing whatever the hell he wanted. Though that resembled his problem with Mr. Rixon slightly. It was rather odd to realize that they were actually so similar. Well, only in some aspects. Maybe that was why they butted heads so much. Rixon was Darryl's karma for being such an annoying student. That's no good. He'd have to amend that somehow, and maybe try to make a compromise with the boy and see where that lead them.

Darryl would be thoroughly happy to know how many points he had managed to wrack up for this bit of honesty, but again, let's not tell him; for the greater good. He took another drink, which made him realize he was dangerously low he was of his substance. Now that was a problem. He wanted more, but he had only said one drink. He internally pouted over this dilemma and noticed that she was almost out as well. He took a little sip before he lowered his glass and looked back up at her. "I fancy a refill. Would you like one too?" He then turned his back to her and topped his glass off with the rum and then turned back to look at her with an easy smile. He hoped she wouldn't be put off by it, but drinking for Darryl was something fun. And he liked to have fun.

He grinned a little as she said he wasn't that much of a flirt. Oh honey. "Is that so?" He asked, his face a little serious, his eyes were doing that smothering look that he often used to mind control women into doing his bidding. Mind you, it worked more than it didn't. It was a dangerous weapon to have, but Darryl didn't abuse his intense gaze...much. Of course now he was just teasing her and he let the look glide away from his face like it had never been there. With a chuckle and a sigh he took a refreshing drink of his rum.

He enjoyed seeing her blush because of the question and hearing her answer he wasn't...to surprised that it was in college, or with a boyfriend. "That's nice." He replied with a small smile. Her question gave him the idea that she wanted to back track from where they currently were, and well, he couldn't really have that. They were having fun, so why would he want to talk about something boring like cars, when they could talk about...what they were talking about. "Oh well everything is pretty much in walking distance and I hafta stay in shape somehow." There. He gave the honest truth about it and then his grin was back, because it was his turn. He couldn't much control what questions she asked him, because if she was going to play safe, she was more than welcome too. Darryl, on the other hand, had no such plans.

"Would you like to kiss me?" Darryl asked with a nearly straight face, though the corners of his lips turned up at the corners. He could imagine that kissing Midori would be a pleasant experience, and he wondered if she had entertained the idea. Whether or not that would actually...lead to anything was besides the point. And remained to be seen.

[Midori Hawkins]

It seemed like Darryl had a lot of memories to amuse himself with, of a miscreant youth spent imitating teachers for laughs. She’d never been the one to cause trouble. Not even in college. Skipping class, goofing around, it just wasn’t her. Her time at Hammel had been spent learning, and gaining control over her power. It hadn’t been easy, especially not with students like Willow around. An experienced shapeshifter, Willow was. Spending time in classes with her had made the younger shifter feel like she was stumbling, falling behind in her progress. Now, she had near flawless control. Something that had only come from concentration during training.

Nobody is telling Darryl how many points he’s racking up. Least of all, Mii. She was currently looking into her glass, swishing the remaining liquid around. She was nearly out as well, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it. At least, not until Darryl mentioned a refill. Well… he’d said one. But this was nice. And two wouldn’t be that bad. “Um, okay?” She timidly held out her glass to him. Drinking wasn’t exactly fun for her, but she had always had problems saying no to people. And drinking was making this… kind of fun.

He wasn’t that much of a flirt. At least, not that she’d seen. “Yeah,” she managed. “It is.” And yet as she looked up at him, she felt… she couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the look he was giving her. Either way… wow. She blushed and glanced away the moment he stopped.

If Daryl enjoyed her blushing, he wasn’t going to be disappointed. Sadly, she’d had no delinquent stories to tell to answer him. Just a simple, conservative tale involving a boyfriend and college. “Really?” That was… nice? In any case, yes, she really, really wanted to get out of these dangerous waters. His answer was good enough, really. It made sense. The only reason Mii had a car here was because she’d bought it back home. It was nothing special. An older vehicle, but it ran well, and she liked it. “True. I mean, I have a car, but I usually walk to work.” Please, please let them stay on this more innocent track. Please let Darryl play along. Please –

What? Mii’s eyes widened slightly at his next question. What was she supposed to say? What could she say? She thought about it, what kissing him might mean. It could be innocent. It could be nothing. Darryl had said it himself. He was a flirt. … What would be the harm in it? The last “person” she’d kissed had been Eli’s dog, Zero, and before that, it had been her niece. “Um… okay.” She stepped closer to him and tipped her chin up.

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl didn't have that sort of person Midori had with Willow. Darryl couldn't recall anyone close to his power that he felt any sort of rivalry with anyone older than him or younger. Darryl just enjoyed his training and spoiled himself with attention...and abused his powers some would say. He didn't believe that--he just enjoyed his God given gift. No harm in that, right? Though his side effect did give him a sore throat, and at one point he was told that he might eventually lose his voice. It was a grim future...but his power was....well Darryl didn't see him being stingy on his power.

Darryl looked happy as she held out her drink and he diligently went about refilling her drink. Once the contents were back in their proper places, he turned and held out her drink to her. That happy smile was still on his face as he held it out and once she took it, he picked his own drink back up and took a pleasant drink from it. He saw his magical tricked worked on her and he grinned a little more. Her blush really was something. Very attractive too.

The reason why Darryl thought it was nice, because well, Midori was so innocent. And Darryl wasn't. Seeing into her...well perspective and her past experiences were nice for him. It was...like seeing a different culture. It was alien and different. And interesting to Darryl. It was odd, but that was Darryl for you. He nodded as she revealed that she too walked to work, even though she had a car. Very energy efficient, that was. It really made sense, though, since it saved money with gas and the walk wasn't that far anyway. It was maybe a ten-fifteen minute walk for Darryl.

Then it was on to the interesting part. He wasn't sure how she would reciprocate his question. It was a yes or no question. It didn't even need an explanation and then it would be her turn. Though, thankfully, that's not what happened. While he had been gambling (sorta) on the outcome, he was still surprised she did what she did and that was step closer to him and tilt her chin up in an obvious way. He smiled a little and lowered his drink to the counter and stepped forward.

Kissing, just like everything else in Darryl's life, was an art form. And he wasn't the sort to just kiss to get to the next step; no, Darryl actually liked kissing. It was one of his favorite parts, anyway. With his finger tips he lightly brushed them along her jaw until he reached her hair, to which he tucked a few hairs behind her ear, smiling he angled his face down towards hers. There was a lingering moment, to which he offered her an exit, and while it was a painfully brief moment, it was really only a pause. Then he closed the distant between their lips.

[Midori Hawkins]

The problem with shape shifting was that it was far from unique. Granted, no two shifters could do things alike. Willow had her reptilian form, Nina had that thing about black things, and Mii could do small mammals. Just like Nina had her favourite form, a black chicken, so did Mii. A pretty brown and white dog, much like Eli’s Zero. But working with Willow had made her feel awful some days, while she was learning. Now, she wouldn’t have had a problem working with her. (And she did, just not in training classes anymore.) She didn’t use her power often, mostly for her niece’s amusement when she was visiting back home, and the only ill effects she had were simple muscle aches. It could be worse.

Once her drink was replenished, Mii smiled and took a little sip. No more after this, she promised herself. Two was more than enough to calm her down, loosen her up. Sometimes, she cursed being a lightweight. “Thank you,” she murmured softly, still trying to calm her pounding heart from that damned look. It wasn’t fair, having a weapon like that in his artillery. “I take it back, by the way. You are a flirt.”

The two of them were as different as night and day. Mii had been the kind of girl that had held on to ideals like waiting for marriage before having sex. (Yes, she’d broken that one.) She’d been the good girl all her life. Nothing really risky, or trouble making. Just... well... innocence. She just wasn’t into being bad. And it seemed that Darryl was a little different. He’d been the trouble maker. And he’d said it himself. He was a flirt. Mii definitely wasn’t.

So why was she actually interested in saying yes to his question? Opposites attract? Blame it on the vodka? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she was interested, and she’d moved closer once she’d put her glass down as well. Kissing Darryl was... interesting. She blushed at his touch on her jaw, at the gentle tucking of her hair.

Then he kissed her. She automatically closed her eyes when their lips touched. Funny, he tasted a little like rum, and she didn’t really care. This was nice. She hadn’t kissed anyone in a while, now, and it felt nice to do so. In fact, it would feel nice to do... well... anything, with a guy again. Okay, that had to be the vodka’s influence. Still, it made her press a little bit tighter to Darryl, and gently wind her arms around his neck. Yeah. Kissing was nice.

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl was sure there was at least one other mimic out there, and he would be willing to be that that person copied people's speech patterns differently than he did, or only copied certain things. Darryl could get any voice in English, since it was the only language he could understand. He could copy accents, though, because they weren't hard at all. When he had first started learning his power, he had a problem of reverting back to his own voice. At one point, he was Robert De Niro for almost an entire day. Once he got his real voice back, it sounded odd to him. Though that was the only time he remembered actually struggling with it.

"Do you?" He asked, amused, as she receded what she had said before and told him he was a flirt. "I am glad we can agree." It's just what a flirt would say. Did he really have a reason behind saying that? No, not really. Maybe because now that she accepted he was such a flirt, she would in time warm up to it and play his weird flirty games? Perhaps. I'm not too sure though. Maybe Darryl did it just to see her reaction. That made a little sense in Darryl logic.

Darryl was beside himself with inward glee and cheer. There wasn't really another reason Midori would have agreed to kiss him (with him actually asking it) other than the reason that she had thrown caution to the wind (or at least chosen to ignore it for a time) and just wanted to kiss him. And Darryl was perfectly happy with that. What was so bad and dangerous about kissing anyway? They were both adults, perfectly capable of making decisions. And while they were both under a bit of influence, the previous statement still stood.

Darryl was prepared for the kiss to be just a quick peck where she'd duck her head away and then be embarrassed the next couple of round of questions, or maybe even she'd insist they go get some more work done. Darryl didn't give himself room to hope for...well, what was happening. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped closer into him. Her body was small and warm and felt great against his. He felt comfort in the proximity of her body and not just from any sexual urges (there were also there). His arms wrapped around her frame, one hand rested flat against her lower back, because that was a favorite spot of Darryl's, while his other hand ghosted up her back to rest in between her shoulder blades. Because that too was a favorite of Darryl's.

[Midori Hawkins]

Mii didn’t mind having a common power. In fact, when she wasn’t being forced to “compete” with her peers, it made it a lot easier to fade into the background. Unique or rare powers had seemed to earn attention from staff and students alike. Though no power affected two metas alike, some were more common than others. It seemed that it would always be like that. She’d seen it, even in her recruiting. Though she was no powers expert, Mii had often wondered what might happen in the near future. It was still out there, as to whether being meta was related to genetics or not, and if it was, how it worked. It was something she wanted to read more about, once the research was completed.

“Yes,” she managed to mumble. Mii wasn’t much of a flirt herself. She didn’t think she’d be able to return his silly flirty games. But at the very least, she could tell him he was a flirt. He’d already admitted it, and now, well, she was seeing it in action. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a man flirt with her like this. It was actually sort of nice.

Darryl was right. They were both adults, and capable of making responsible choices. There was no harm in kissing. Not when it was perfectly consensual and responsible and... warm... and... wow, Darryl smelled good. Even with the rum on his breath. And he was warm. It felt nice to be so close to someone. Someone that wasn’t a dog, or her best friend. (Even then, she and Eli rarely hugged, and never kissed.) So this was nice.

She hadn’t planned to kiss him like that. She hadn’t planned to let things get out of hand. But the moment their lips touched, she wasn’t the one in control anymore. She sighed happily when she felt his hands on her, finally breaking the kiss and curling into him, her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Not that she really was. “But, um, that was... really... wow.” Eloquence, she lacked. “I... um... if we’re going to do that again, can we... maybe go somewhere more comfortable?” Not that standing in the middle of the kitchen was uncomfortable. It could just be better. A lot better. ... Okay, no more vodka for Miss Hawkins.